HOST LEADERSHIP GATHERING

Luxury hotels strive to create unique experiences and exceed their guests’ expectations to create WOW moments and turn their customers into loyal patrons who keep coming back.

Hani El Sharkawi, BSc, MA

A curious connection has grabbed my attention in the Intercultural and the Host Leadership strands of my work. The idea of shared ground between the two - conceptual and practice-oriented – has come about as an outcome of my current work with “globe-trotting” senior executives from global and transnational companies with branches in Bulgaria.

I have noticed that no matter what direction our conversations take within the intercultural coaching programmes these executives enrol in, we inevitably arrive at issues concerning their performance as leaders in the novel multicultural contexts they find themselves in. They want to engage with the sensitivities of the people on their teams and draw them in, in culturally appropriate ways. But looking into the huge geopolitical divides, e.g. East-West, or delving into the big-scale cultural dimensions theories that are part of the more traditional cross-cultural training agenda is not exactly what they want to do Rather, they are keen to develop and amplify spaces whereby, with their team(s), they can act and build things together.

And where exactly is the point where we can jointly employ ideas from Host leadership and Zones of Interculturality. Host leading is about building relationships – at work, in the community, in society, at home – to engage with others. Equally, engagement with people is a key ingredient in intercultural interactions. Another common thread is a shared emphasis on the dynamics of performance. Stepping into and out of the six host leading roles and dealing one’s identity cards in zones of interculturality both manifest themselves as work ceaselessly in progress.

Helping people see these connections and thus develop their intercultural and host leading performance conjunctively is, therefore, worth a try.

In this session, we explore some of the commonalities between Host Leadership and Zones of Interculturality. No doubt we can coach and train our clients without having to untangle any of these connections. We can achieve results by merely introducing the two steps, four positions and six roles model of Host Leadership and/or mechanistically follow the prescribed path of the “Living and working abroad” programmes. However, I trust that establishing a common philosophical ground between Host Leadership and Zones of Interculturality is an opportunity to construct a firmer foundation for our practice to the benefit of everybody concerned.

Leah Davcheva

The “User`s guide to the future” is a powerful model developed by Mark McKergow for Solution-Focused and hosting working with the future. In our session, we will explain the model and demonstrate in live coaching how clients find signs of progress facing challenging and complex projects.

Learning outcomes:

After the session, SF practitioners will be able to work with the model in coaching or team coaching situations. They can support clients in stuck and tough situations by focusing strongly on signs of progress. Leaders will have some fresh ideas on how to plan and steer complex projects in an SF (and very agile) way - together with their team. In a stance of Host Leadership, they will be able to better accept uncertainty. One participant will have the chance to be supported in a challenging situation by a coach and find tiny signs of progress to take home with.

Dr. Peter Röhrig

Dr. Mark McKergow

Describing Host Leadership is a good way to learn it. Feeling it is an even better one: in this workshop, we will explore different ways of being a Host by using systemic structural constellations to simulate possible scenarios. You will learn good and bad ways of being a Host by feeling them in your body!Learning Outcomes:The participants will own a richer way to discuss and teach about Host Leadership as well as new tools to coach leaders.

Pierluigi Pugliese

Host Leadership helps us combat the time-bound and pressure-driven world of KPI’s, where stress, social media and the unrelenting pace of chasing targets means that our focus on our own agenda drives our inability to effectively listen to others. Adhering to the traditional questioning method of gaining information can often let others feel like they are being interrogated to provide information and naturally leads to creating barriers in conversation. In this session, you are going to learn how to de-construct negotiations and hone your skills in facilitating that tactical negotiation to achieve that win-win result.

The creation of the Behavioural Change Staircase by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the early 1970s paved the way for law enforcement negotiators to effectively de-escalate and negotiate with others in crisis to bring about a peaceful conclusion to a critical event. Based on social science and practitioner experience this model of engagement has many parallels with the framework upon which Host Leadership was created. Importantly, both approaches are effective in creating space, building trust and in achieving resolution for both parties.

As children in the formation of our speech and understanding of the language, we actively listen, picking up on keywords and phrases that our parents use. Remember how we tell that bedtime story to our children; we use our voice to ‘paint the picture’ and take them on that journey of discovery. It is not what we say, but how we say it. However, as we enter adolescence we are distracted by social media, external and internal pressures that often impact on our ability to listen effectively.

By initiating dialogue, we can skillfully use the seven techniques in active listening to create space for others to open up and disclose emotions, feelings and information. Our own life experience can be a very effective tool in being empathic towards others and it is this combined with active listening that allows us to make that vital connection that builds the foundation for trust.

Emotions play a significant part in our decision-making and it is our ability in dialogue not only to control our own emotions but to recognise the emotions of the person or group with whom we are engaging. When emotions run high or low our effectiveness in negotiations is diminished as those respective emotional states do not create the space for rational conversation. So, recognising the optimum emotional balance helps us to create the right environment to make that connection.

Creating space through active listening and empathy, we naturally begin to build rapport, when the dialogue flows with ease and we discover the deeper issues. In doing so, the temptation is to problem solve for the other person, but like Host Leadership, that is not our goal. By solving the problem for the other person(s) we only provide a solution, but they have no ownership of it and therefore are less likely to implement it. Our objective is to help guide the person(s) to their own problem-solving solution; we only encourage the thinking and dialogue.

In this rapport stage that we can begin to use the power of influence and persuasion; a subject that has been studied since ancient times where Aristotle defined his three pillars of persuasion as Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Often it is at this stage that we become impatient for change and start talking too much, but the power of suggestibility is a seed that is sometimes best left to germinate in the mind of others until it bears fruit.

The science behind influence is not surprisingly underpinned by active listening and it is how we use the principles defined by Robert Cialdini of reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity to influence others. Often at this moment, when we can see the goal, that we allow pressure to build that then spirals us into not listening as we become focused on our own agenda.

A blend of Host Leadership and tactics used from the crisis negotiation world can effectively buy us time to consider best options and to make the best decisions; ones that are underpinned by knowledge, information and that connection with the other person(s). Not succumbing to the pressures of demand with an assigned deadline, allow us to calmly deal with the pressure of the situation as we act as our own gatekeeper to our decision-making.

As we move towards behavioural change, we recognise that we need to keep that connection strong through active listening, empathy and rapport as we start to see the effect of our influence and persuasion. We are a co-participator at this point as we guide the person(s) to a mutually agreeable solution that works for all and in this, we keep going until we have observed the fruits of our negotiation.

Participants will learn the theory and tactics behind high-pressure negotiations and through immersive exercises how to buy time for improved decision-making that leads to a win-win result.

Learning outcomes:

Aimed at those who wish to build an in-depth knowledge of effective negotiation techniques that help in the everyday working environment, by teaching participants the following skills:

• Negotiator Attributes – learning techniques to control your emotions and deal with egos to create the optimum environment for negotiations
• Psychological, Cultural & Generational Aspects of Negotiation – using a range of tactics that help you navigate different personality types, cultural and generational nuances
• Active Listening – the stealth weapon of effective negotiation
• Empathy & Rapport – listening to understand the key issues to build that connection and develop great rapport
• Persuasion & Influence – using an effective blend of science and practitioner experience to fully utilise the power of suggestibility and the dynamics of compliance in influencing others towards your goal
• Behavioural Change – understanding the model, slowing downtime to reduce pressure and make more informed decisions in creating that win-win result Participants will engage in immersive exercises that allow them to demonstrate their skills, with coaching to hone technique. Ideal in teaching staff to facilitate that ‘difficult conversation’ to bring about positive change in the workplace by creating space and in skillfully negotiating with others to achieve a win-win result.

Andrew B Brown

Have you ever had a gut feeling to not trust somebody who was trying to step into a leader`s role? Or has it even happened to you that you, as a leader, failed to inspire or motivate others even if you technically did everything right?

Gerlinde Wernegger